This Week’s Comic Book Movie News (08/03/13)

A lot’s been happening this week in the world of the comic book movies so we’re going to catch you up on everything you need to know. There’s loads to get through so let’s get started.

Iron Man 3

We had a new trailer for starters and we got to see Stark’s Iron Legion. Robert Downey Jr spoke about his experiences filming the HUD sequences and how it feels to wear the Iron Man suit. Over at Collider, they enjoyed an in-depth interview with Shane Black and Kevin Feige. They talked about the writing with Drew Pearce, the connections to The Avengers and the treatment of the Mandarin.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Extremis comic books (off of which Iron Man 3 is based), Shane Black explained the Extremis virus. In a (very) short summary, it’s a virus that can alter a human to give them powers.

In the Extremis comic book, there’s a type of thing that takes over and basically upgrades DNA. Sometimes you die. But if you live through the experience then you come out this changed thing…

But we’ve deliberately stayed away from defining, ‘Oh it’s nanites.’ What we do keep from the comic is the idea that there’s a slot in the brain that seems to have been dormant, but exists in human beings, almost as though it’s waiting for human beings to find a way to fill it. It’s been there forever.

And elsewhere we learned that J.J Abrams offered a helping hand and there were spoilers to be found on the toy shelf. (Curse you LEGO!).

Marvel Phase 2

Joss Whedon revealed that there wouldn’t be a Planet Hulk movie. When asked if the rumours were true he replied “Well I’m really not supposed to comment, but no, that’s nonsense.” But he hasn’t forgotten the Hulk entirely.

“I’ve got the next story, and it’s a corker… I haven’t even been thinking in terms of superhero movies. The films I’ve been thinking about are ‘The Godfather Part II’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. Those are the stars by which I chart my course.”

And just to doubly confirm it, Mark Ruffalo went to his Twitter account to say that the next time we see the Hulk will be for Avengers 2. Which has us wondering just how reliable Latino Review’s scoops are. They’ve been reporting some major news but more on that later.

Meanwhile Kevin Feige spoke with SFX magazine about Doctor Strange (he’s still interested in introducing him to the big screen), cosmic storylines (Guardians of the Galaxy probably won’t be taking part in the next Avengers) and changes to The Avengers roster for number two. You can read excerpts from the interview here and here.

X-Men and The Wolverine

Another member of the old-school cast has been added to the roster for X-Men Days of Future Past. Halle Berry will be reprising her role as Storm. Chris Claremont, writer for the original comic book spoke to Newsarama about the challenges Bryan Singer will be facing in adapting the story.

The challenge, I would think, for Bryan is that the heart of the original story is not the fight with the Brotherhood back in the present day. The challenge, the story, is actually what happens in the future. Getting them to the point where you can send Kitty back, and seeing the consequences of what will happen if they fail, and not knowing at the end how it’s going to turn out. You think it’s going to be a happy ending, but you’re not sure, because pretty much everybody dies — in the comic, anyway. You can’t not be invested.

Despite the huge amount of news surrounding X-Men, it’s still a long way off yet. Before that we still have The Wolverine. For a bit of fun, director James Mangold shared the 10 films that influenced The Wolverine to his Twitter followers. And no, there aren’t any X-Men films on there.

Justice League

Okay there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that this story is pretty exciting and kind of a big deal. The bad news? It comes from Latino Review. They’re supposed to be pretty reliable with their news but the Hulk story has proved that they’re not perfect. So for now, we’ll call this pure rumour. El Mayimbe reported that Christopher Nolan is now in charge of the DC properties being handled by Warner Bros. When or if there’s another big DC team up movie (whether that’s Justice League or not) then Christopher Nolan will produce. Zack Snyder was also named as a producer and possible director.

To top all of that, Mayimbe claimed that Warner Bros was working it so that Christian Bale could return as Batman. If you’re feeling sceptical I don’t blame you. Christopher Nolan has said in the past that he wouldn’t be involved with a Justice League movie and that The Dark Knight Rises was definitely the last time we would see the Christian Bale Batman. Take a look at the report and tell us what you think. Do you believe it? Would you be excited if it turns out to be true?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

We were treated to some on-set photos of Sally Field,Andrew Garfield and Shailene Woodley. Nothing overly exciting but it’s still nice to see things moving along.

I’m in it, Andrew is in it. They just cast Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn, who is such a great actor, I think that will be wonderful. And Shaeline Woodley as Mary Jane, who’s also wonderful. So there’s all that, and the script is very, very good. I’m very much looking forward to it.